Kum & Go, headquartered in Des Moines, Iowa, is interested in purchasing the shop building at 640 E. Victory Way, pictured above right. The building is owned by Moffat County and must be auctioned off to the highest bidder in accordance to county policies. If acquired by Kum & Go, the company plans to demolish its location at 700 E. Victory Way, located next store to the shop building, to make way for a store more than 5,000 square feet in size and featuring 10 to 18 gasoline pumps.

Craig K&G looking to expand east location

Proposed 5,000-square-feet store would equal state’s largest

Quotable:

“There’s a lot of questions we need to answer, but if they show up next week with a plan that meets our codes, we could have an approval in the next six to eight weeks.”

— Dave Costa, City of Craig building inspector

It’s been on the backburner for two years, but it appears plans to expand the Kum & Go convenience store at 700 E. Victory Way could be progressing.

Company executives, headquartered in Des Moines, Iowa, sent a site plan Wednesday to city building inspector Dave Costa.

The drawing outlines a proposed store more than 5,000 square feet and featuring anywhere from 10 to 18 gasoline pumps.

If the site plan is approved and Kum & Go sticks with the specifications delivered Wednesday, the updated store would be on par with some of the company’s largest convenience locations in the state.

“It would be just like the one down in Rangely,” Moffat County Commissioner Tom Mathers said. “That is definitely one nice store.”

Although the store is located within city limits, Mathers said county officials would play a role in whether the project moves forward.

To expand, Kum & Go needs to purchase a storage and equipment building next door at 640 E. Victory Way. The county owns the building and the land it sits on.

Phil Hoey, who works in Kum & Go’s real estate division, approached county officials in 2010 about purchasing the building, but a slow economy prompted the company to table the project, Mathers said.

Talks reopened in the last several weeks, Mathers said, and included an offer to purchase the building.

“They got the building appraised and offered us $375,000 plus $60,000 for the land,” Mathers said. “But, it is against the county’s policy to sole source any sales or purchases.”

Mathers said the county must conduct a formal bid process for purchases and sales of goods or services that carry a price tag of more than $5,000.

To adhere to county policy, Mathers said the commission has discussed holding a live auction on the property.

The minimum bid would be $435,000 or Kum & Go’s original offer.

“I called Phil and told him the plan and he seemed fine with the starting price,” Mathers said. “I told him, ‘We’re doing this for you. We’ll make the lot the size you want it to be, but we have to go to auction to be fair to other businesses, particularly the oil companies, who may take an interest in that building as well.’”

A date and time for the auction has not been determined, Mathers said.

Because the proposed project is located in city limits, the county is waiting on word from Costa to see if preliminary drawings meet Craig building codes.

“I can’t really tell the dimensions from what they sent me today,” Costa said. “The zoning will remain C-2 and if the size is what I think it is, they will have to submit a plan that contains room for 25 parking spaces and 6,125 square feet of landscaping, including 14 trees and 21 shrubs.”

According to the preliminary drawing, the proposed store would reside on or touch three separate land parcels, which would also require the county and the city to re-subdivide the property.

Hoey is scheduled April 12 to visit Craig to discuss the project with city and county officials in more detail, Costa said.

“There’s a lot of questions we need to answer, but if they show up next week with a plan that meets our codes, we could have an approval in the next six to eight weeks,” Costa said.

Comments

I hope when they build this store the engineers learn from the mistakes made on the last two. They need to realize some people around here drive 4 door, full bed pickups. With the way they designed the entrance off of Victory Way and the one off of Yampa, if a full size pickup is parked in front of the store you can't get in if it is park towards the entrance end of the store. Also the snowplowing nightmare with the way the islands stick out there in the road. I think it would be better without those entrances. At the North store there is no way to turn North from 9th onto Yampa without crossing a double yellow line. I always thought crossing a double line was a traffic violation, maybe not. The same mistake was made at the new hospital in regards to parking, Try to park a full size vehicle and then try to back out with cars on both sides of you and cars behind you in the next parking line. Parking spots are to narrow and to close to the next parking line.

You have ti thank those trun lanes were not Kum & Go idea it was told by the city and state how they were to build them entrances and I know how it feels to try to get into them and it dose suck then try getting a truck and camper in there these morons what it to be like Aspen and I dont blame people for not wanting to come back to this town. Then to top it off Mathers would rather have a oil company buy the lot then Kum & Go . A company that has been here and plans on staying here